One of the
team building activities that never fail to crack people up is the Facial
Message Relay. Traditionally people communicate a specific sentence to one
another in a Message Relay activity. In this version though, the participants
are only allowed to communicate through their facial movements. This usually
makes for an amusing learning experience for everyone.
Here is
everything you need to know to conduct this modified message relay activity:
Participants:
10-50
participants (5-10 per team)
Materials:
Blackboard
or any screen that can display information
Paper and
pen
Objective:
Pass on the
correct message to the last person in line.
Instructions:
1. Form the participants teams with
equal numbers.
2. Explain the value of each facial gesture to the
participants. The values are as follows:
a)
Eyebrow
flash (raising eyebrows) = 1,000
b)
Nose
movement = 100
c)
Kiss
motion = 10
d)
Licking
motion = 1
3. Instruct the first people in the line to relay
a certain numerical value using the designated facial gestures only. For
instance, if the value is 1,786, the participants must relay 1 eyebrow flash, 7
nose movements, 8 kissing motions, and 6 licking motions.
4. Each participant must face away from the first
person in each line. Once a person has been tapped, he/she must focus on the
facial message relayed, and pass it on to the next person.
5. Once the message has been successfully passed
to the last person in line, the last person will write the value on a piece of
paper.
6. Skipping people in one’s line or talking is not
allowed.
7. Any team breaking the rules has to restart the
message relay process. They may also be given a different value.
8. The teams to relay the correct message first
wins. You may repeat the process as many times as you’d like.
Possible
debriefing questions include the following…
How hard
was it to communicate with your team mates?
What were
the roadblocks to effective communication?
What were
the factors that made communication easier?
You may
change the facial gestures to anything else that you see fit or just to make it more hilarious. I hope you enjoy
conducting this interesting version of the classic Message Relay activity!
- The instructions for this activity was recreated by the Learning and Development Division of the Cebu Teambuilding Facilitators Network. Led by Philipp Chen Tan, other members of the division are Kevin Johnrey Sosas, Paulo Frangelyco Magallon, and Marc Julius Rizada.
- CTFN does not claim ownership of this activity. For a list of references used to recreate activity instructions, please visit our Directory of Activities page.
